The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday announced a $2.1 billion investment in the hopes of improving infection prevention across the U.S. health sector.
The funding, which uses funds allocated by the latest round of COVID-19 stimulus signed into law by President Joe Biden, will be provided to state, local, and territorial public health departments across the country.
According to a press release, the funding aims to "support rapid response to detect and contain infectious organisms, enhance laboratory capacity, and engage in innovation targeted at combating infectious disease threats."
"This funding will dramatically improve the safety and quality of the healthcare delivered in the United States during the pandemic and in the future," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. "Funding will provide significant resources to our public health departments and healthcare systems and opportunities to develop innovative strategies to protect every segment of the U.S. population, especially those disproportionately affected by the pandemic, at a time that they are hit hard."
Funding will be awarded beginning in October. $500 million of that initial funding will go to nursing homes and long-term care centers to create "strike teams," which the CDC says will "assist skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, and other long-term care facilities with known or suspected COVID-19 outbreaks."
The remaining funds will be allocated over the next three years across various sectors of the U.S. health system.